776 



Miscellaneous Notes. 



[JAN., 



carting provided fairly full and regular employment in Surrey and Sussex, 

 but the supply of day labourers tended to be in excess of the demand. A 

 scarcity of men for permanent situations was reported from certain Unions. 

 Several day labourers in Hampshire were in irregular employment owing to an 

 excess in the supply of labour, while bad weather at the end of the month 

 caused further loss of time to this class of men. Difficulty in obtaining men 

 for tending stock was reported in the Petersfield Union, owing to an 

 objection to Sunday work. In Berkshire employment was generally regular, 

 and the supply of day labourers about equal to the demand. Threshing, 

 securing root crops, hedging and ditching, and manure-carting caused a fair 

 demand for extra labour in Wiltshire, but it was generally more than met 

 by the supply. The supply of, and demand for, day labourers were generally 

 about equal in Dorset and Somerset. There was only a moderate demand 

 for extra labour in Herefordshire, but employment was fairly regular on the 

 whole ; some scarcity of men for permanent situations, however, was reported. 

 Threshing, hedging, trimming, ditching, and manure-spreading caused a 

 fairly good demand for labour in Gloucestershire, but the supply was sufficient. 

 Employment was fairly regular in Devonshire and Cornwall, though somewhat 

 interrupted at the end of the month by wet weather. Day labourers were in 

 fair demand for hedge-trimming, carting manure, and work on the root crops. 



Destruction of Charlock by Calcium Cyanamide. — A note was given in this 

 Journal, Dec, 1907, p. 568, on the use of calcium cyanamide as a means of 

 destroying charlock. Some further experiments 

 Miscellaneous carried out at the Agricultural School at Arenen- 

 ig. berg, Switzerland, are described in the Deutsche 



.WOies. Landw. Presse (4th Nov., 1908). It appears that 



in 1906, when this manure was used for grass, 

 it was observed that all kinds of weeds were severely burnt, although the 

 grass was favourably affected. This suggested the possibility of a similar 

 action on charlock in corn, which would enable the grain to be manured at the 

 same time as the charlock was destroyed. A plot of about a quarter of an 

 acre in a field of barley with first-year single-cut clover was dressed with 

 22 lb. of calcium cyanamide on the 5th June. The weather was hot at the 

 time, but in the following night there was heavy rain. The cyanamide was 

 applied by hand, which was somewhat troublesome, owing to its corrosive and 

 dusty nature. An inspection a month later showed the result to have been very 

 satisfactory, no trace of charlock could be seen, and the barley was about 

 4 inches higher than the rest. The clover seemed to have suffered somewhat, 

 but not to any extent. Closer examination showed a few stalks of charlock in 

 flower, but alrnost entirely without leaves ; these were evidently old plants 

 which the cyanamide had not been able to kill, although it had destroyed the 

 leaves and had so promoted the growth of the barley that the charlock could 

 do no further damage. Other weeds had also suffered more or less. 



Agricultural Credit Bank in the Transvaal. — A short account of the 

 Transvaal Land and Agricultural Bank Act, 1907, was given in this Journal, 

 Feb., 1908, p. 690. The Ace has now been amended (No. 37 of 1908) in several 

 respects as regards the scale of repayments. An advance may be made for any 

 of the objects for which a co-operative society may be formed under the Co- 

 operative Agricultural Societies Act, 1908, on the security of a first mortgage 

 on its immovable property, together with the machinery, buildings, improve- 

 ments, and fixtures, to an amount not exceeding one-half of the value. 

 Advances may also be made to co-operative societies on the security of any raw 

 or manufactured produce, or of the joint and several liability of members of the 

 society, for the purpose of enabling the society to make loans to its members 

 on the produce supplied to it. 



